Download ALEXANDER OF MACEDON

ALEXANDER OF
MACEDON
THE CONQUEST OF
PERSIA
THEBAN HEGEMONY
• 370 BC, Thebes attacked Sparta
– Freed the Helots
– Destroyed Sparta’s power
• Thebes became the HEGEMONIC power
• Athens and Sparta attack Thebes
 turmoil, disunity
 POWER VACUUM
Aristotle: “Horror vacui”:
“Nature abhors a vacuum”
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MACEDON
• Greek speakers
• Kingdom not a city-state
– Multiple urban areas
– Tribes remained important
• BUFFER ZONE for rest of Greece
– Had to fight of “barbarian” tribes of Europe
– Greeks of the poleis thought them
barbarian too
5th century Macedon
• Expansion
• “ATTICIZATION”
• Fluctuating power
– MONARCHY
• Hereditary
• Army had to approve: weaklings rejected
• Absolutist
– Aristocracy
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PHILIP OF MACEDON
• Reigned 359–336 BC
• 338 BC – controlled all Greece
but Sparta
• Began CONSOLIDATION
– Garrisons throughout Greece
– “Federal League of Corinth”
• 337 BC announced invasion of
Persia
• 336 BC Philip assassinated
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ALEXANDER II
• Born 356 BC
– he was 20 when Philip died
– Army declared him king over
his half-brother
• Philip taught him military
strategy
• Aristotle was his tutor
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THE THEBAN REBELLION
• Suppressed Theban Rebellion
– Killed 6,000 Thebans
– Captured 30,000 and sold them into
slavery
– Loses only 500 Macedonian troops
– Destroyed the city
– Distributed land to neighbors
• Fear not loyalty kept Greeks in line
“Your ancestors invaded Macedonia and
Greece and caused havoc in our country,
though we had done nothing to provoke
them. As supreme commander of all
Greece I invaded Asia because I wished
to punish Persia for this
act. . . .”
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THE PERSIAN INVASION
• 334 BC, Alexander invaded ASIA MINOR
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30, 000 infantry
5, 000 cavalry
No navy
No money
One month of supplies
• Simple (if risky) strategy:
– Rapid advance on easy targets ⇒ supplies
– Control ports ⇒ neutered Persian navy
– Attack the Persian core ⇒ shocked Persian army
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THE CONQUEST OF EGYPT
• After winning at ISSUS ⇒
• South through the Levant,
via Jerusalem to Egypt
• Founds ALEXANDRIA in
Egypt
• Declared a God
• Moves North to TYRE
THE PERSIAN COLLAPSE
• 331 BC: Darius offers a truce
– Darius: east of the Euphrates
– Alexander: west of the Euphrates
• Alexander crosses into Mesopotamia
– Battle of GAUGAMELA
• 330 BC: Enters BABYLON
– Persian nobles murder DARIUS
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EAST AND BACK
• 330 BC East through Scythia
– Reached India
• 327 BC: turned around
• 324 BC finally reached Babylon
– settled down to run Empire
– lots of plans to consolidate
• 323 BC Alexander dies
– Aged 33
– No HEIR!
POLITICAL RESULTS
• Empire itself DID NOT LAST
• His generals divided the empire into
warring factions:
– Ptolomy in Egypt ⇒ Ptolomid Dynasty
– Seleucus in Persia ⇒ Seleucid Empire
– Antigonius in Greece ⇒ Antigonid Dynasty
• The most important effect was
CULTURAL
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ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
• Alexander 
– showed religious, cultural, linguistic tolerance and
even RESPECT
– included other nationals in the governing and
military classes
• conquests spread Greek culture but didn’t he
impose it
• Cultural SYNCHRETISM: the merging of
ideas from two or more cultures
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HELLENISM
The extension of Greek culture – great art,
literature, law and philosophy – throughout
the known world
• Hellene:
Greek word for Greeks
• Hellenistic Age = Age of the Greeks
– 336–30 BC
– The beginning of Alexander’s reign
– The Roman conquest of Egypt
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